Ganoderma species (a group of medical fungus) is known in the art. Ganoderma lucidum (Reishi or Ling-Zhi) has been used as traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for promoting good health, perpetual youth, and longevity and in particular extract of Reishi were used as anti-tumor and immuno-modulating agent. Reishi is also known to exhibit liver protective, hypoglycemic and platelet aggregation-inhibiting activities.
Although the receptor complement receptor type three (CR3) has been shown to bind the β-glucan polysaccharides, the receptor, and carbohydrate epitope responsible for the anti-tumor activity remain to be established.